Terrance Simien spreading zydeco love through Iowa Arts Festival

A Louisiana dance party is coming to the 2024 Iowa City Arts Festival on Saturday night, June 8, courtesy of Terrance Simien and the Zydeco Experience.

Driving the many miles from his Lafayette, La., home to Iowa City is far from new for Simien, whose tours over 40 years have taken him to 45 countries.

When Simien touches down in Iowa City, fans can expect an exuberant, engaging, movement-inducing performance.

“We’re trying to have fun,” Simien said of the shows. “There’s a certain type of energy that makes you feel good, makes you want to dance.”

Those shows, if nothing else, verified the universal appeal of zydeco, the music that grew out of south Louisiana and in the ’80s, spread around the U.S. and the world, thanks to touring and recording artists like Simien.

Zydeco’s roots

“I think it’s in the DNA,” Simien said of zydeco’s wide appeal. “I’m Creole. I’m Louisiana Creole for hundreds of years. My family has been in this area since 1756. I’ve got jambalaya DNA: I’m French, Spanish, Native American, German, Italian. It’s a true world style of music. People that hear it instinctively find that that’s for them. Even if you’re not from (Louisiana), you feel the music, the connection.”

The origins of the name “zydeco” are unclear. Some say it’s a fast pronunciation of the first two words of a French phrase. Others, including Simien, find it rooted in African words “zai’co laga laga,” “zariko” and “zari,” which all mean “dance.”

But whatever the word’s roots, by the 1920s and 1930s, the music — often called Creole, French music or La La — began to be recorded. Its most famous practitioner was accordionist/singer/songwriter Amede Ardoin, who recorded in the 1930s.

In the 1950s, Clifton Chenier became the architect of modern zydeco, setting the table for Simien and his contemporaries to take the music to the world.

Zydeco is often described as blues-based. But that’s a misreading of the sound, which gets its "blues" from deeper African roots, then blends in European culture — the accordion, which came from Germany, is one of its primary instruments — with multiple languages and sounds, including, in Simien’s musical gumbo, jazz.

“In my band, I have a couple horn players, a trumpet and a saxophone,” he said. “We put some jazz into the music. I’m not the first to do that. Jazz started in Louisiana and it kind of worked its way into all the styles of music around us. Clifton Chenier, Buckwheat (Zydeco); they had it. It’s not that big of a stretch.”

Musical journey

Since he graduated from Lawtell High School in Louisiana in 1981, got serious about zydeco and started playing professionally with his band two years later, Simien has performed more than 10,000 shows and toured millions of miles. He and his band have even seen their music placed in multiple TV and radio commercials and a handful of movies, including “The Big Easy,” “Exit to Eden” and Disney’s “The Princess and the Frog.”

Simien got the first of his two Grammy Awards in 2008, recognizing not only the music on his album “Live! Worldwide” but his role in taking zydeco international.

“When I started playing in 1981, it was mostly a local music,” Simien said. “You had a few people going out: Clifton Chenier, Queen Ida, Buckwheat (Zydeco). In 1981, there were only two teenage bands playing it: my band and The Sam Brothers. Everybody else was 20 years older.

“Now the split has flipped,” he said. “Now there are more younger bands than us OGs — that’s what they call us. It did what we wanted to do. More young people are making the music, filtering for the times. That’s what makes the future look good for the music. That’’ what all of us wanted to do, keep the music going.”

Chenier, the architect of modern zydeco, for example, brought amplifiers into the acoustic music, added the over-the-shoulder rub board and a frottoir, or rub board vest, to the instrumentation, and incorporated blues, jazz and early rock ’n’ roll into the musical mix.

In their shows, Simien and the Zydeco Experience have put an accordion-drenched zydeco spin on songs originating from Bob Dylan and The Band, Amy Winehouse, reggae’s Peter Tosh and The Meters. Many younger artists are incorporating hip-hop elements into their zydeco stew, leading to criticism from some purists who maintain they’re not really playing zydeco.

“People don’t realize what they’re saying,” Simien said. “If you think the music is being done wrong, pick up a guitar or an accordion and play it the right way. We’re fine. Dr. John, when we would talk, would always say, ‘If it’s not changing, it’s dying.’ ”

As Simien brings his brand of zydeco to the stage, it’s almost certain that he will be having a blast, smiling from ear to ear.

“The older I get, the longer I’m in the game, the more I want to play, the more I enjoy playing,” he said. “I thought that by now, after 40 years, I’d be burnt out and done. But it’s the opposite. I’m being genuine. When you see a smile on my face, I’m enjoying it, seeing the people, seeing all the friends I’ve made over the years. It’s a beautiful thing for me. I can’t smile enough.”